Kazakhstan Prime Minister a No-Show for IOC Visit -- On the Scene

(ATR) The Almaty 2022 bid chairman will not present his government guarantees in person to the IOC Evaluation Commission.

Prime Minister Karim Massimov was scheduled to speak with the IOC inspectors on Monday or Tuesday to emphasize in person his government’s commitment to Almaty 2022.

But he was called to the Kazakh capital when President Nursultan Nazarbayev left Astana. It’s part of political protocols which require the prime minister’s presence in the city when Nazarbayev is out of town.

Vice chairman Andrey Kryukov tells Around the Rings that Massimov’s no-show at a critical juncture in the 2022 bidding contest is not a blow for the Almaty bid.

"No, no. I don’t feel this," he told ATR.

"We really wanted the prime minister to present to the commission, but there was really no possibility," he said, adding that it wouldn’t affect Almaty 2022’s momentum and the bid was adopting a more informal style in talks with the IOC.

Next month, rival bid Beijing is expected to roll out its big guns to drive home the Chinese government’s support for their Olympic ambitions.

Kryukov said various ministers and the mayor had done a good job in delivering government guarantees.

"Day by day, we bring different government members. It’s part of our strategy," he said, adding that there was time enough in the bidding campaign for Massimov to make a valuable contribution to the bid.

Kryukov said the more official moment for the bid, when Massimov can make an impact, would come in the technical presentation in Lausanne at the 2022 Candidate Cities Briefing on June 9 to 10.

At a press conference that wrapped up day four of the IOC’s visit, he reiterated that the prime minister would participate at "the end of the campaign".

Vice mayor Zauresh Amanzhilova, who has been the de facto bid leader with two trips to Lausanne in the past eight months, was seen by media covering the IOC inspection for the first time on Tuesday.

"The government is fully supporting Almaty’s bid for 2022. It’s a priority of a national level, and the bid is an integral part of the country’s long-term development," she said through a translator.

She turned her absence from the bid team into a positive. Amanzhilova explained that she collected the flag for the 2017 Winter Universiade in Granada on Feb 14 and brought it back to Almaty this morning, showing the IOC the importance of staging sports events in the former Kazakh capital.

"We are one more step closer to the Olympics. Because the Universiade will provide opportunities for us to construct sites," she said, a reference to the three venues being built for the 2017 event that also form part of the 2022 Games plan.

A new IOC survey puts national public support for the Olympic project at 75 to 78 percent, bid officials revealed. Only 10 percent are against the bid.

"That fact does inspire us," she said. "The support of residents of Almaty is shared by the people in Kazakhstan."

The IOC commission spent all today in closed-door meetings. Finance, marketing, governmental and public support, security and medical services were among themes discussed. Nearly 30 speakers for the bid updated the panel.

Kazakhstan NOC secretary general Timur Dossymbetov told the media briefing that he was satisfied Almaty was getting its message across to the IOC.

"The Games are not going to hinder development of the city but facilitate it and provide impetus for further development of this region," he said.

No Presentation at SportAccord

The IOC confirmed to Around the Rings that the 2022 bids would not be allocated time to make presentations to the summer and winter sports federations at SportAccord in Sochi in April.

This was one of the 40 recommendations passed in Agenda 2020 reforms, specifically designed to slash the costs for bidding cities.

Almaty, the supposed underdog of the two bids for the 2022 Games, may have more to lose from this rule change than Beijing.

Kryukov stopped short of saying it would impact the bid’s quest to get its message across to IOC members, but admitted that a pitch at SportAccord would have helped Almaty.

"For us, we like to show our concept and our advantages to the sport world and to the federations and IOC members," he told the press conference.

"The IOC now apply the rules of the recommendations of Agenda 2020 to reduce expenses of bidding cities, and reduce presentations in this regard," he said, adding that the IOC had seriously analyzed the rule before taking the decision.

"In reality, it’s no problem. We will be present at SportAccord. We will talk to people there," he added.

The IOC wraps up its five-day visit on Wednesday with a press conference where commission chairman Alexander Zhukov will deliver his verdict on the Almaty 2022 inspection.

Reported by Mark Bisson

Homepage photo: Facebook/Almaty 2022

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